Music for Parkinson's

Call of the Wild

Just got home this morning after a lovely day in the sunshine yesterday at Call of the Wild festival, Lincoln Showground. Special thanks to Raz White for having Lynne and myself along for another great day. It's also a great pleasure to announce that our band Absolva www.

parkinson's

Bigfooted whiskey drinker

Staggered into the house is what I apparently did when I arrived home on Saturday evening - I'd been at a barbeque with family and friends, and it was one of those pretty rare occasions that I'd allowed myself alcohol. Jameson's whiskey, one of

832 - missing the show

This may at first sight be a morbid and negative blog today. It's not. Quite the reverse in fact and driven by real events in my life this week, yet I would hope it's thought provoking for all the right reasons. You perhaps know that in

Luminiscence

As you know from earlier blogs I'm a fan of the ambient music of Tangerine Dream. Chill-out music the likes of which I'll be exploring in a bit more detail in future blogs - linking up with differing potential treatments for Parkinson's disease. I

Old grey and white underpants

It's been a mixed week at Appleton Towers but one that ended on some kind of high. It started with interruptions, the like of which can occur when you work from home. It goes with the territory. Following the trip to see Toyah as described in my previous

Toyah, wedding anniversary and pickle juice

As part of my blog you'll perhaps remember I said plenty of my writing would be about my experience living with Parkinson's. Well, this is not the first experience I've written about but it's the first 'live' experience I'

Helm Crag

Lynne & I decided at very short notice to take a trip to Grasmere, our favourite spot in the Lake District. We had been waiting for a while for my ankle/Achilles situation to improve and seized the chance once it came along. Grasmere is by no means the biggest

Grassroots intersection

Way back in 2008 my wife Lynne had the bright spark of an idea to set up our own festival. We booked some bands, hired a local community hall (Radcliffe Civic Suite) and dispatched Lynne and friends across town in schoolgirl outfits to help entice a crowd. The original timing

I don't like tributes

Many of you that know me will be aware that I don't like tribute bands. Nothing personal against the members but in running record labels and management services, I feel that the popularity of tribute bands could be to the detriment of emerging original artists. I fully realise

Insomnia and Domestic Violence

There was a point during these past few months, which as said before have been particularly difficult with my Parky's, where I had two consecutive completely sleepless nights. During the surrounding nights at that point I was averaging two hours sleep per night which is obviously completely unacceptable

Business as usual

Normally I'm a positive person. I have a positive outlook on life in general and pride myself in adopting a positive approach in the face of adversity. Most people have said I remain calm and grounded in a crisis. I guess you could say my positivity works out

I was very reluctant to write this

One of the main points of this blog is to examine and in time develop the intersections between music and Parkinson's. Last night Lynne and I attended Springfest at Blackpool, Waterloo venue - familiar territory for us both, having worked there at various times over several years as

Restless Legs

First a quick update as prompted by my 'No Place to Run' blog. The truth is despite a promising start, my weight has fluctuated and if you're anything like me weight-loss is as much to do with state of mind as anything else. Moods have been

For sheer enthusiasts

Several months ago I stumbled across a youtube site operated by a guy called Rick Beato. He has around 5.5 million subscribers. I assume that any of you that are guitar enthusiasts will already know of him but for me it was a revelation. As well as being an

Why I Decided to Write This Blog

Good question! The main reason is my personal perception that awareness of Parkinson's is not as high as it should be. Although (again perception) other degenerative diseases such as MS and MND are in the main a bit more brutal, I still feel Parkinson's tends to

Rock is Dead?

I think about this quite a lot from time-to-time. Wasn’t it Gene Simmons of Kiss who last used this phrase and I guess it stirs up the ‘old guard’ into action. It gets debated for a while and then we return to our former state and the debate edges

LJ and LA

A few weeks back my wife Lynne (LA) went to see Lynne Jackaman (LJ) live in concert, accompanied by our friend Shane Mckie, a big LJ fan. Many of you will know Shane as a keen supporter of bands from various UK locations including Manchester. Also his son Freddie is

KK's & surprising weight loss

As planned Lynne & I went to KK's Steel Mill, Wolverhampton last night which has been a frequent excellent venue for us with Blaze Bayley, Absolva & others. The journey to Wolverhampton was difficult - wind & rain of almost biblical proportions (OK, OK slight exaggeration), yet eased

It's amazing what you can achieve in 24 hours!

Day one yesterday on a new regime, down to 113.6kg so that's a loss of 0.4kg. Lynne & I are out to see Primal Fear & Ronnie Romero at KK's Steel Mill in Wolverhampton this evening, hoping I can handle walking around the big

Diary entry 11th March 2026, a public commitment & UFO 'No Place to Run'

I'm currently reading Steven Bartlett‘s book 'The Diary of a CEO: the 33 laws of business and life" (thanks for this Christmas present from my youngest son Luke). One approach that Bartlett talks about is the Feynman Technique which is basically this... "If you

Diary entry Tuesday 26th March 2026 & Tangerine Dream's Machu Picchu

Awakened today at 3 am, having rested my head on the pillow from 9:45 pm. Five hours of relatively undisturbed sleep is pretty good for me as I’ve been going through insomnia problems which, together with a persistent ankle/achilles problem, means this has been a difficult period

Parkinson's Disease

It's time to get a little serious. I guess many of you will know what's going wrong in the brain of a Parkinson's sufferer but many of you will not. Until I started googling my symptoms prior to diagnosis, I had very little clue

News

That's enough about you...

... let's talk about me! Welcome to my first blog post which I suppose by its very nature is about me but mainly about the things I care about in life & in the case of Parkinson's 'disease' something which has dominated the course of